Gamah™ fittings are known for connecting together adjacent fuel pipe segments in aircraft fuel systems. These fittings contain O-ring seals. However, the use of these conventional fuel pipe joints can often be undesirable. One problem is that the O-ring seals are non-conductive. This makes it necessary to attach bonding leads between the Gamah™ fitting and the fuel pipe segments for the safe dissipation of lightning currents, and to prevent static electricity build up which could lead to sparking. This adds significant weight to the design. Moreover, these joints often do not provide sufficient flexibility to account for the relative movement of adjacent fuel pipe segments caused by wing bending.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,293 describes an elastomeric bellows-type connector for joining together two tubular members. If such a connector was used in an aircraft fuel system, it would still be necessary to attach bonding leads between fuel pipe segments as elastomers are non-conductive.